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Friday, January 31, 2014

Do you want to add value to your pepper harvest? In this post, we’ll first discuss choosing
the correct pepper variety, then cover finding creative ways to package
your peppers, and lastly, we will refer
to a few common value-added processes.

Before
the seed is ordered, it’s important to make the correct varietal choices. Ask
yourself the following questions: What
types of peppers perform best in my region? Are there regional favorites that my
customers have asked for? What is the intended end use for the peppers? Are
there under-served ethnic markets or restaurants?

Here at
Johnny’s, we help our customers clearly identify the main benefits and attributes
of each of our pepper varieties, including their intended end use. It pays to research the specific demands in your region before picking a type or variety of pepper.

Check out what other growers are selling at local farmers
markets. If you have adventurous customers and most growers there are not
growing specialty peppers, this might present you with an opportunity. If your
customers are culinarily conservative, maybe the standard pepper varieties are
best for you. Another good idea is to contact restaurants in your area to find
out what they are looking for. You can show them pictures of unique varieties
in Johnny’s catalog or on our website.
It’s better to do your homework ahead of time so you don’t get stuck
with peppers you can’t sell.

Creative
Packaging:

If
you’re looking for a new, unique way to package your pepper varieties, try some
of the ideas below:

Sell
your snack peppers in mixed pints of small bags
and market them as the perfect-sized, healthy snack

Offer
different colored bell peppers in mixed packages

Combine
similarly-sized specialty peppers such as Aura, Glow, and Lipstick and offer
them as a colorful snack-pack

Ristras:
They take a bit of effort, but they typically sell quite well. String the
peppers before they are dry to prevent breakage. Red Flame is a good choice for
Ristras and wreaths. Bangkok would also make a nice mini ristra or wreath.

Chiles: Chiles can also be dried
and ground to sell as powder or flakes. Please note, this requires eye
protection and a respirator so you won’t burn your eyes or lungs in the
process. Again, it’s important to research the demand for this type of
product in your area, as the selling price of this product would have to be
quite high to justify the effort.

Monday, January 27, 2014

The great thing about heirloom seeds is their proven
performance. They’re also generally widely adapted and have great market
acceptance and recognition. Growers all over the world have been saving seed
from these open pollinated varieties. The
question is where should you source your seed?

It really depends on what you’re trying to
accomplish. It’s nice to imagine saving
seed year after year and having pride and legacy develop on your farm or
homestead, but how do you know if you’re getting the same high quality tomato
that was first planted one, five, or even 25 years ago? Do you remember when
your favorite tomato variety seemed to have more pronounced shoulders, a
rounder shape, or a more upright plant habit?

The truth is, not all seed savers, or seed
production companies are created equal. Seed quality and performance can vary
greatly from stock to stock. Let me help explain this, by presenting two
examples below:

Company A contracts a
farmer to grow heirloom tomatoes. Since they’re desperate to ensure a seed
source and their inventory is getting low, they provide the farmer with the
remainder of their seed stock, which is leftover seed from a previous years’
production. The seed is in poor shape and the farmer struggles with low
germination and poor plant vigor. Half of the transplants don’t make it to the
field. To meet his contract, the farmer delivers seed from every tomato
produced, regardless of the quality. This includes the fat ones, the skinny
ones, the seed from the fruits that have some purple blotches, as well as seeds
from the purple fruit with some red blotches. The farmer saves seeds from the
plants that barely set fruit, the diseased plants, and the ones that might have
cross pollinated with his own tomatoes.
Compound this seed saving process over a few productions and the
tomato’s original great characteristics start to fade away.

On the other hand,
Company B contracts with several well-established and seasoned seed growers. The
seed company provides disease-free, high germinating, true-to-type seeds to
farmers geographically located in an area where common tomato disease and pest
pressure for that crop are low. The farmer isolates the production crop from
his crops of the same plant family on the farm.
The seed company frequently visits the growers and walks the production.
Together, they select fruits that are healthy and disease free. They grade the
plants and fruit on their health and for being the best possible match to the
characteristics of the variety’s lineage.
They identify any off types, or lower quality plants and quickly remove
them from the production. Upon harvest, the seed is lab tested to ensure high
germination, and vigor. Grow-outs are performed to test seed quality prior to
being released to consumers. The process is repeated next year using these
“true-to-type” seeds.

These scenarios happen every year in the seed
production industry. Don’t believe it?
Try growing the same exact heirloom varieties from three different seed
suppliers. Grade each one based on uniformity, plant health, and being true-to-type.

Johnny’s knows that as
a grower, you’re proud of your product. We know you may not always be the only
one to market with a Brandywine tomato, but we can help you have the best
looking one there, by ensuring our seed production is held to a high standard
that we are proud of. We also rely on
our seed growers to return to us the type of seed they would be proud to
buy. One of the reasons we are able to offer our customers such great quality
seed is due to the specialized seed growers we work with. They are the
ones that walk countless times during the season to make sure Johnny’s gets a
product they are willing to put their name behind.

﻿

Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions about
seed saving, our seed production or anything else you might be curious about.

Friday, January 17, 2014

In March 2011, we tested our caterpillar tunnel under heavy snow load to see how the structure would respond. Now that winter is upon us, we're re-posting our results from the trial. Let us know your thoughts on our findings by leaving a comment under this post!

Goal:To see if either caterpillar tunnel version (with, or without purlins) could withstand winter snow load.

Results: Very interesting. We picked two of the four tunnels that were built in May, 2010, planted onions in them, and buttoned them up for the winter. Both tunnels were structurally the same, with a center ridgepole made of chain link fence top-rail, but one of them also had purlins about three feet from either side of the ridge. These purlins, were used in the summer to trellis vine crops, and carried that load quite well. They really stiffened up the whole structure. However, in summer, they tended to cause the plastic to collect rainwater. This made me think that the purlins would either make it so strong that it would better carry the snow load or they would catch more snow than the tunnel without purlins and cause a collapse. It looks like the latter is the case.

Summary and recommendations: It is important to note that we intentionally did not remove snow in this trial, as we were looking for structural failure in worst case conditions. Removal of snow, even just next to the tunnel that failed, probably would have prevented its failure. Doing so would have greatly reduced the pressure bearing in on the sides (and therefore the plastic's weight felt on the top). If you intend to use a structure like this to overwinter crops in northern climates where snowfall is a concern, I would recommend a maximum of four foot bow spacing during construction, not using side purlins in winter tunnels because they catch snow, and, of course, the removal of snow whenever possible from the sides and top of the tunnel. It would also be prudent to shore up the bows internally with notched two-by-fours placed vertically under every other bow as a means of additional snow load insurance and peace of mind.You can view the complete gallery of this trial below:

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Growing Ideas with Johnny's Selected Seeds

About the blog: Here's what's growing on at Johnny's Selected Seeds! We'll answer your questions, let you know what's happening at the farm, and give you plenty of ideas for growing and gardening.Johnny's Mission: To help families, friends, and communities to feed one another by providing superior seeds, tools, information, and service.